The Palatka daily news. (Palatka, Fla.) 1884-1888, 1887-01-29
Lemon Street,
PaIa1ka, Florida.
ABOUT DEER HUNTING.
TALK WITH A HUNTER WHO HAS
BEEN IN THE NORTHWEST.
Methods Employed by Hunter--killing
RattIe-nake-Ihe Buck Fever"
Curious Traits Of "a Deer-Curiosity and
Snesking Propensities.

RattIe-nake-The Buck Fever"
Curiou, Traits of Deer-Curiosity and
Sneaking Propensiti~s.
\ young western deer hunter, tall, broad
shouldered and muscular, just from the
forests of Michigan and Wisconsin was met
at the Mansion house, Staten Island, by a
reporter and asked for some particulars
about hunting the deer.
There are nearly many deer as ever
in the woods of the northwest, he said,
land they are very wild. Shooting them is
the popular sport with us, and there are
many men who make living at il. The
weight of the deer killed out there runs from
100 To 500 pounds. The way We hunt them
Is this: They have what We call runways-
that is. well defined paths leading from their
different grazing grounds q creek or river
We find these rIInways and station ourselves
i'll the woods adjoining. \ naa i detailed
To take the dogs ami go mile or 50 ahead
To start the deer from the feeding ground.
The animals at once take to their accustomed
runwavS and are then shot 10y the hunters
stationed in the woods. 1t is 40 easy mat
ter to kill deer when it is running, for you
almost always shoot too high. When deer
is opposite 10 you if you whistle or make an
unusual sound their great sense of curiosity
will frequently cause them To stop and then
is the time TO shoot. The deer hunting sea
son extends from October to December. Not
long ago | saw two deer shot with one shot.
One war large buck weighing fully 20
pounds and the other "a doe of probably 10
pounds, weight They running side by
side ami the hunter was standing only few
rods from the runway
do they fight when wounde,i>'
Indeed they ito. Let wounded buck
get at you once and it Is almost certain
death Their hoOfS are as sharp a. knives,
and they use them as their weapons, jump
ing on and striking you with them. | have
known of old and experienced hunters being,
made to climb trees to get out of the way of
a wounded buck. You want 10 see a deer
kill rattlesnake. n rattlesnake cannot
strike until II Is cooled up. The deer seems
to know this and when the snake Is fully
cooled, ready to strike, the deer Will first 90
round and round the snake keeping the snake
whirling around, and suddenly draw its feet
together and springing up into the air with
a bound come down with its full weight upon
the snake, cutting it to pieces.
THE BUCK FEVER"
What is the buck fever'<''
1T is sudden trembling and loss of nerve
when deer first comes in range. Every
one gets it at first, and even old hunters get
it, shaking and trembling "a if they had tho
ague Yes, | had it the first time | went
out. Being inexperienced | was placed on
the runway in an out of the way spot, where
the deer was not expected to come. But as
luck would have it, the dogs drove the ami
NAL directly To where | was. Ii was large
doe and up 10 within fifteen feet of me
and stopped and gazed at me in great curios-
ity. To say that | was excited does not half
tell the way | felt. | had my gun i'll my
hand and raised to my shoulder. but l could
not for the life of me pull the trigger"
Have you known women 10 shoot deer
''Oh. YES. | remember Of one case of a
splendid shot. The woman was in her shanty,
and hearing a noise outside looked out.
There stool big buck six seven rods
from the door. She gTasped her husband =
rifle AMI aiming carefully killed it at the
first shot. She was very proud of her sue
cess. | can tell YOU. Speaking of women,
this trait of curiosity i'll deer, one would
say, shows "A remarkably feminine character
istic. They will risk their lives often to
crafty it. | recall that riding through the
woods just before | came away three large
deer ahead of us stopped and gazed at us
until we were within twenty feet of Them
then would run ahead and again wait for us
To catch up. They did this for II long dis
tance. We had no rifles or We could easily
have killed them Why, I've seen them SO
interested iii gayly dressed lumherman that
they would let the man get almost close
enough To kill them with his AK; and i'll the
lumber camp at night, when the men are
singing and cutting up, the deer will often
come close up To the shanty to try To get a
look in There Is one characteristic about a
deer that few people know of-that is, their
sneaking propensity. Instead of at once
boldly taking cover when pursued they will
crouch down ami sneak away. They get
easily confused. too. / have come ON to IA
deer suddenly and surprise has caused it to
6 81,
diameter several times. New York Mail
AMI EXlr,.SS